The Stanley Cup Final isn’t even over, and already trades and free agency are becoming the talk of the NHL.
With the draft coming on Friday and unrestricted free agency opening on July 1, now is the time for teams to figure out their best paths forward. The salary cap finally taking a significant step upward is only adding to what could be a chaotic week of transactions.
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Already, there have been a number of significant trades and re-signings that could lead to more moves elsewhere.
To get the lay of the land, this week The Athletic asked its NHL staff to assess the biggest decision each team needs to make in free agency this offseason.
For some teams, the decisions are internal, whether it’s which unrestricted free agent to retain or how much can be paid to a restricted free agent. For others, it’s how a gaping hole can be filled externally.
Here’s the full list — one crucial decision for each team.
Anaheim Ducks
Which restricted free agents to retain: The Ducks have eight RFAs from last season’s roster to make choices on. None are up for potentially pricey contracts, like Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale were last summer, but it’s more about who fits into the roster going forward and what spots they must keep open to make changes. Up front, Isac Lundestrom, Max Jones, Brett Leason and Bo Groulx all are eligible for salary arbitration. On defense, Urho Vaakanainen and Gustav Lindstrom are arbitration-eligible while Jackson LaCombe isn’t. Qualifying offers for RFAs are due by June 30 in order for teams to retain negotiating rights. We’ll soon see whom general manager Pat Verbeek might move on from. — Eric Stephens
Boston Bruins
Center, wing or left-shot defenseman? The Bruins need a top-two center with more offensive punch than Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha. They could use an impact wing to complement David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand amid the expected departure of Jake DeBrusk. They need a left-shot defenseman behind Hampus Lindholm and ahead of Mason Lohrei. There are only so many dollars to go around. What’s the priority? — Fluto Shinzawa
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Buffalo Sabres
Whether to buy out Jeff Skinner: The Sabres could clear $7.5 million in cap space this season by buying out the final three years of Jeff Skinner’s contract, but he would count against the cap for six seasons. His $9 million cap hit has never been a bargain, and that was especially true when the 32-year-old had one point in Buffalo’s last 13 games after getting moved off the first line in 2023-24. This feels like a domino that will directly impact everything else the Sabres do this summer. — Matthew Fairburn
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Calgary Flames
How to balance free-agent signings with future focus: The Flames already did the hardest thing on their offseason checklist by moving Jacob Markstrom. With the Flames now possessing a little over $23 million in cap space, there is ample room to follow that move up with additions in July. But they must be wary of signing players to long-term deals as they continue their roster reconstruction — especially if they still want to give their young forwards opportunities to play. — Julian McKenzie
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Carolina Hurricanes
Whether to move on from Brady Skjei and Brett Pesce: After re-signing Jalen Chatfield to a three-year extension, the Hurricanes have two of their pairings set for next season. But Carolina could still lose both Skjei and Pesce in unrestricted free agency. The defensemen — who played together as much as any tandem in the league in recent seasons — were often given the team’s toughest matchups, and Skjei blossomed into one of the top-goal scoring blueliners in the league. Chatfield and Dmitry Orlov are capable of being a top-four pairing, but losing Skjei and Pesce would definitely hurt the Hurricanes’ case for having the best defense corps in the league. — Cory Lavalette
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Chicago Blackhawks
Whether they’re willing to make long-term offers: The Blackhawks have holes all over the roster, cap space to burn and a newfound desire to become competitive. But general manager Kyle Davidson is wary of making any long-term contract offers until he knows just how much his top prospects (Connor Bedard included) will cost in a couple of years. Davidson is reluctant to give out anything longer than a two-year deal, but if he really wants to lure any top free agents (he needs a top-line winger, a No. 2 center, a top-four defenseman and a backup goalie), he might have to bend a little bit. Yes, the Blackhawks can overpay someone like Jake Guentzel for a couple of years, but if Guentzel wants term instead, will Davidson be willing to offer it? — Mark Lazerus
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Colorado Avalanche
Can they afford to pay Jonathan Drouin? Last summer, the Avalanche signed Drouin to a one-year “show me” contract, and Drouin did just that. Reunited with his old junior teammate, Nathan MacKinnon, the 28-year-old winger had career-highs with 37 assists and 56 points, and he scored more goals (19) than he had since he was a 21-year-old in Tampa Bay. The Drouin experiment was clearly a success, but it might’ve been so successful that it prices him out of Colorado. Evolving-Hockey currently projects Drouin to sign a four-year deal with a cap hit of $4.7 million per year. The Avalanche’s cap situation is a little murky due to the uncertainty of Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin, but finding a way to fit that in seems like a priority. — Jesse Granger
Columbus Blue Jackets
Should they resist the urge to sign a goaltender? New general manager Don Waddell has made it clear that he’s committed to Elvis Merzlikins, who has been a below-average goaltender for three seasons now. Merzlikins’ contract is too big to trade and too long to buy out, Waddell has said. But that doesn’t mean Waddell won’t be tempted to sniff around a buyer’s market among goaltenders this summer. It would create a crowded house — the free agent, plus Merzlikins, plus youngster Daniil Tarasov, who is out of minor-league options — but it would bolster a major question mark on the roster. — Aaron Portzline
Dallas Stars
How to address the right side of the blue line: In what’s been a constant issue in recent years, the right side of the blue line will be under the spotlight again. Jani Hakanpää, who struggled in the regular season but was still a decent player, missed the entire postseason run due to injury. He is an unrestricted free agent. Chris Tanev, who shined during the postseason run, is also a UFA. Nils Lundkvist, who fell out of favor with the coaching staff, perhaps for good, is an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent. The only defenseman the Stars currently have on the right side is Miro Heiskanen, and he’s a natural lefty. — Saad Yousuf
Detroit Red Wings
Whether to re-sign Patrick Kane: There are a few tough unrestricted-free-agency decisions for the Red Wings this year, including with power-play specialist Shayne Gostisbehere on defense, but Kane feels like the most significant. His arrival put a charge into the team last season, and he delivered with 47 points in 50 games. Keeping him, though, is going to mean offering enough term to make Kane feel more stable, and that’s a bit tricky for a 35-year-old winger who is still just a year removed from major hip surgery. Losing him would be a huge blow to Detroit’s top six, but the Red Wings have to decide if they’re more comfortable trying to replace that offense or betting on Kane’s durability for meaningful term. — Max Bultman
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Edmonton Oilers
What becomes of Vincent Desharnais? This might not be the toughest decision, but it’s certainly one of the most intriguing. Desharnais has made huge strides since making his NHL debut in January 2023 and was a regular all season. Contract talks for the pending unrestricted free agent were in the works until just before the playoffs started. However, Desharnais has been scratched in all but one game since the midway point of the Western Conference final. Even if the Oilers want to keep him, Desharnais might be better suited to seek a more lucrative offer elsewhere. — Daniel Nugent-Bowman
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Florida Panthers
Brandon Montour or Sam Reinhart? Both have been instrumental to the team’s recent success. Both will be unrestricted free agents almost immediately after Florida’s season ends. Both will be in high demand should they hit the market. Only one, realistically, will return to the Panthers, who already have approximately $67 million committed to salary-cap hits next season. Smart money is probably on Reinhart, given his importance to the top six and power play, but it’s too soon to say. — Sean Gentille
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Los Angeles Kings
Letting Matt Roy walk: The 29-year-old Roy turned himself into a trusted top-four shutdown defenseman with the Kings after being a seventh-round pick out of Michigan Tech. The team values him highly, holding onto the sixth-year veteran for the playoff push even though he was a pending unrestricted free agent. Now the right-shot defender is going to get paid. Perhaps the Kings can still work out a deal to extend him, but they also have Brandt Clarke waiting in the wings. Roy would have had a lot of trade value at the deadline, and seeing him walk without anything in return will sting, but that’s the call they made. And until Clarke establishes himself as a reliable force on their blue line, they’ll miss Roy on the back end. — Eric Stephens
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Minnesota Wild
Trading Filip Gustavsson: The biggest decisions the Wild will make in free agency are how much they pay Jake Middleton ($4 million-plus per year likely) and Brock Faber (an AAV that may start with a 9), but the toughest will be whether to trade Filip Gustavsson — and while that’s not technically a free-agency decision, if they do it, it will mean they need to find an NHL-caliber third goalie in free agency for AHL Iowa. Bill Guerin loves the idea of Marc-Andre Fleury mentoring Jesper Wallstedt, but you have to wonder how much those two can play at their older and younger ages. — Michael Russo
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Montreal Canadiens
Can they find a top-six forward to sign short-term? The Canadiens don’t want to commit to a long-term contract to help round out the top-six up front, but if they could find short-term help on the free-agent market, I think they would be interested. Except that short-term contracts for unrestricted free agents who can make a difference offensively are exceedingly rare. Just how much term the Canadiens are willing to give will likely determine whether they can fill this need. — Arpon Basu
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Nashville Predators
Whether or not to re-sign Jason Zucker: Zucker was a terrific deadline addition for the Preds, bringing speed, snarl and skill to a group of forwards that was a bit light in all three areas. He had a goal, two assists and made an impact well beyond that in the six-game series loss to Vancouver. He has a prior relationship with Andrew Brunette. So it seems like a quick “yes,” but at what price? Zucker is 32. This also has to do with the Preds’ expectations for some of the young guys who would be preferable if they’re ready. — Joe Rexrode
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New Jersey Devils
How to add defensive depth: The Devils solved their toughest decision already, bringing in Jacob Markstrom to fill the hole in net. Now they need an additional defenseman or two. They traded away Kevin Bahl in the Markstrom deal, Brendan Smith is a free agent and Colin Miller was dealt at the deadline. General manager Tom Fitzgerald doesn’t need to bring in a star. Dougie Hamilton will be back from injury, and Simon Nemec and Luke Hughes had promising rookie campaigns. John Marino and Jonas Siegenthaler are also under contract. But the team has cap space, and some of that should go to adding blueliners who can round out the group.
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New York Islanders
Where to find cap space to add anyone: Only four teams have less cap space than the Islanders at the moment. The $5.81 million in space that Lou Lamoriello has could buy a couple of cheap depth options up front and on defense, but there isn’t nearly enough to make any significant moves without sending money out, either in a trade or a buyout. The Islanders have squeaked into the playoffs and lost in the first round two years running. Unless there’s a move or two ahead of July 1, the Isles will be on the sidelines for the big free agents. — Arthur Staple
New York Rangers
Does Chris Drury shake up the core to clear cap space? Drury told reporters nothing was off the table entering the offseason, and the Rangers already made a difficult decision to create cap flexibility ahead of free agency, waiving Barclay Goodrow on Tuesday. Will New York continue to try to clear space by trading roster players? Kaapo Kakko signed a one-year restricted-free-agent deal, but that doesn’t make him unmovable. Captain Jacob Trouba’s $8 million average-annual-value contract also poses questions after his difficult playoffs, but that contract will not be easy to move. Drury will have to make tough choices on how drastically he wants to shake up his roster after its Eastern Conference final exit. — Peter Baugh
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Ottawa Senators
How aggressive should they be in pursuing Chris Tanev? It’s no secret the Senators desperately need a right-shot defenseman to play in their top four. And when you listen to new head coach Travis Green speak, you quickly realize that a player like Tanev — whom Green coached in Vancouver — would be the ideal fit. Tanev is a classic shutdown defenseman, but he will turn 35 in December and is coming off a contract that carried a $4.5 million cap hit. Would the Sens be willing to pay in that same neighborhood — and maybe a touch more — on a multi-year deal? Tanev should have plenty of suitors, and if he’s willing to sign with a non-Stanley Cup contender like Ottawa, it might mean the team has to pay a premium. The question is, how much would the Senators be willing to spend, in dollars and term? — Ian Mendes
Philadelphia Flyers
How to manage the dead cap money: One quick look at CapFriendly (RIP) reveals just how much dead money the Flyers have over the next two seasons. President of hockey operations Keith Jones indicated this month that it’s a priority for the club to get all of it off the books over the next two years — and preferably sooner than later. That means he and general manager Daniel Briere will have to figure out what to do with players such as Cam Atkinson, Cal Petersen and Ryan Johansen, all of whom are on the books for significant money in 2024-25. Perhaps that’s buying out a player or two, or perhaps they’ll get creative on the trade market. — Kevin Kurz
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Pittsburgh Penguins
Whether to trade Tristan Jarry: Alex Nedeljkovic was the toughest free-agency decision, and now that he’s signed, the Penguins could employ a fairly good one-two punch in goal with these two. But they have so many holes in their lineup. That makes what to do with Jarry a free-agency-related decision. Unloading his salary would give the team considerably more flexibility to alter its roster this summer. Jarry is a reliably good regular-season goalie. But he has disappointed in the postseason and essentially lost his job to Nedeljkovic down the stretch this past season. — Josh Yohe
San Jose Sharks
Whether or not to re-sign Luke Kunin: Just three days after taking over as the Sharks’ general manager, Mike Grier acquired Kunin from Nashville for a third-round draft pick and organizational forward John Leonard. Not long after, Grier signed Kunin to a two-year contract. Sounds like a player Grier really wants as he’s trying to execute a difficult rebuild. Well, Kunin is up for another deal, and he carries a $2.75 million cap hit. The 26-year-old has a good bit of sandpaper in his game, but he’s not going to give you a ton of scoring (usually 10 to 15 goals) and is best suited to play down the lineup. He’s an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent and would need to be qualified at $2.75 million. Kunin plays the kind of hard game that Grier wants in his lineup, but could the GM choose to open a spot for a youngster or upgrade with all the cap space at his disposal? (Never mind that he just claimed Barclay Goodrow, a similar, more accomplished type, off waivers.) — Eric Stephens
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Seattle Kraken
To qualify Eeli Tolvanen or not to qualify Eeli Tolvanen? The Kraken ducked potentially tricky arbitration hearings with some key contributors last season — Daniel Sprong and Morgan Geekie — by deciding against tendering them their qualifying offers. It’s a move that didn’t really work out for Seattle. Geekie and Sprong were key glue guys this past season in Detroit and Boston, respectively, and their absence left the Kraken bereft of the depth scoring threat that powered their incredible 2022-23 campaign and smaller up front. Now the Kraken face a similar qualification quandary with pending restricted free agent Eeli Tolvanen. Tolvanen had 41 points this season, and his near-perfect stylistic fit as a reliable shoot-first winger can’t be ignored. That said, given his production and minutes, Tolvanen’s arbitration case is going to be robust. And Seattle has the cap space to go big-game hunting to address its offensive pop this summer. It’s not as simple as “learning from the mistakes of last offseason” in this instance. — Thomas Drance
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St. Louis Blues
Whether to sign anyone in free agency: The Blues don’t have any notable pending unrestricted free agents, so there are no hard decisions on that end. However, the club has to decide whether to enter the free-agent market itself to plug a couple of holes. Dalibor Dvorsky projects to become the No. 2 center eventually, and Jimmy Snuggerud could be a Blue after another year at the University of Minnesota. Can the Blues find fill-ins until they’re ready? The challenge will be not giving up too much term or dollars and blocking the path of prospects on their way. — Jeremy Rutherford
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Tampa Bay Lightning
Steven Stamkos’ next cap hit: The Lightning’s team-building strategy revolves around their elite core, and Stamkos is a part of it. But at this point in his career, he’s worth about $7 million a year, and Tampa Bay doesn’t even have that much in cap space right now. So management has to find a way to cut some cap and then try to get the captain signed on a discount. Then comes the challenge of trying to actually improve the roster. — Shayna Goldman
Toronto Maple Leafs
Whether to bring back Max Domi and/or Tyler Bertuzzi: Domi and Bertuzzi both had their moments last season and ended up playing together alongside Auston Matthews at the end of the season. Both would like long-term deals, though, and there are reasons for the Leafs to be reluctant to hand them out to either player. If Domi and Bertuzzi can’t get the deals they desire on the open market, perhaps a path opens up for one or both to return to the Leafs. There are plenty of middle-six forward options in free agency, though, so perhaps not. — Jonas Siegel
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Utah Hockey Club
Signing defenseman Sean Durzi: Utah has oodles of cap space, and pretty much every player of consequence is signed, after it traded away Matt Dumba, Jason Zucker and others at the deadline. The choice here comes down to one of four restricted free agents: Durzi, J.J. Moser, Juuso Valimaki and Barrett Hayton. Of the four, Durzi was the most impactful, after coming over from the Kings in a trade. He led the team in average time on ice (22:43 per night), was third in power-play points (16), led all the defensemen in scoring (41 points in 76 games) and effectively emerged as their No. 1 on the blue line. He’s got arbitration rights and feels as if he could be, if not a cornerstone, a useful player to have under contract long-term. — Eric Duhatschek
Vancouver Canucks
Get the band back together, or chase improvement? The Canucks won 50 games, were the top team in the Pacific Division in the regular season and pushed the Oilers to Game 7 in the second round. It was a dream campaign for a team that feels like it’s on the precipice of contention. The club has a ton of key expiring impact players, though. Nikita Zadorov played top-pair minutes for Vancouver in the playoffs. Elias Lindholm and Dakota Joshua played in the top six. Ian Cole was a steadying presence on the back end. Teddy Blueger was a third-line regular who punched up the penalty kill. After already re-signing Filip Hronek, Vancouver can’t afford to keep them all. Meanwhile, for all the success, this is a team that struggled mightily to generate offense in the postseason and was unsustainably reliant on a historic conversion rate to score goals. The Canucks need significant help on the wings in the top six and arguably are still a credible top-pair-caliber defender short of being an inner circle contender. So should they prioritize keeping an overachieving team together? Or take big swings in free agency in pursuit of an even higher level? — Thomas Drance
Vegas Golden Knights
Re-signing Jonathan Marchessault: The winger is coming off a career-high 42 goals and is still only a year removed from winning the Conn Smythe Trophy. He’s one of the most important pieces to the team both on the ice, where he’s the franchise’s leading scorer, and also off the ice, where his comedic, competitive persona is woven into the fabric of the organization. However, Marchessault will be 34 next season and is likely looking for a longer-term deal, with this being his last big contract. It seems like a deal Vegas would typically pass on, but the Golden Knights might not be able to replace Marchessault. — Jesse Granger
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Washington Capitals
How to spend their free time: It’s a joke, but not entirely. The Caps set off some fireworks before the season was officially over by acquiring Pierre-Luc Dubois from the Los Angeles Kings. Now, they’ve got less than $4 million in projected space and only four unrestricted free agents who played meaningful minutes last season. Unless Brian MacLellan has another whopper in the queue, the roster is pretty close to complete. — Sean Gentille
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Winnipeg Jets
Who plays defense? Josh Morrissey is a surefire solution on a blue line otherwise full of question marks. Unrestricted free agent defensemen Brenden Dillon, Dylan DeMelo and seldom-used deadline acquisition Colin Miller represent half of a quality blue line. Among defensemen under contract, Neal Pionk has struggled in a top-four role, Dylan Samberg may or not be ready for an elevated role and Nate Schmidt is a buyout candidate. The Jets need help, ideally in the form of Dillon and DeMelo, but UFA prices may make Plan A tough to execute. Winnipeg is in a tough spot. — Murat Ates
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(Top photo of Brandon Montour and Sam Reinhart: Joel Auerbach / Getty Images)